Machine for storing and vending refrigerated articles



c. F. WOOD 2,221,016

,MACHINE FOR STORING A'ND VENDING REFRIGERATED ARTICLES Nov. 12, 1940.

Original Filed May 16, 1938 INVENTOR.

Patented Nov. 12, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT-OFFICE- 208,207. Divided andthis applicationJanuary 1 29, 1940, Serial No. 316,181

I 6 Olaims. (ohm-42) This invention relates to vending machines forstoring a supply of articles requiring refrigeration, such as smallpackaged bars or blocks of.

icecream, and for vending such-articles one at a time. I v

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No.208,207, filed May 16, 1938 (Patent No. 2,201,464), for fVending machinefor refrigerated articles.

1 0 Many previous attempts have been made to construct and successfullyoperate vending machines for automatically vending ice cream blocks andother frozen commodities upon the insertion into the machine of theappropriate coin or coins.

Such machines have usually included a refrigeration cabinet having somerefrigeration apparatus or medium therein for maintaining the interiorof the cabinet or refrigeration chamber at a sufiiciently lowtemperature'to maintain the articles in their frozen condition whileawaiting ejection from the machine.

For the best success, such machines should be capable of holding agenerous supply of the articles and preferably should be capable ofholding a series of stacks of articles, each stack containing articlesof a different color or flavor so as to permit some choice on the partof the person obtaining articles from the machine. 1

In order to adapt such machines to the holding andselective vending ofdifferent flavored or distinct articles, the refrigeration chamber isprovided with a plurality of vertically extending channels into each ofwhich a stack of a particular kind of article may be held in a verticalcalumn, one article piled upon the other in thest'ack. Such channels areordinarily formed of box-like structures constructed from sheet metaland required the filling of the channels by insertion of the blocks orice cream bars one by one into 40 the channel. Such operationislaborious and time-consuming. i

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a vending machineof the character described in which the channels for the several 5stacks of articles are formed in such manner as to have their frontsides completely open andto provide retaining flanges at the front sideswhich are moved from a position extending wholly or partially acrossitheopen face ofthe channel to 50 a position exposing the entire width ofthechannel to permit a column or stack of the articles to be bodilyinserted into the channels.

Another object of my invention is to provide a structure of thecharacter set forth in the pre- 55 ceding paragraph in whichthe movableflanges v L. for the individual channels are independently movable sothat the opening of the flanges for one stack will not disturb thearticles in the adjacent stacks.

Another object of my invention is to provide a 55:. structure of thecharacter set forth in which each of the channels is provided with anindividual flange locking means which willhold the flanges of thatchannel in closed relation independently or the position of the flangesof adjacent chan 1o;

nels.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from astudy of the following specifications, read in connection with theaccompanying drawing, wherein 1 Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation ofthe improved vending machine, the'door of the storage chamber thereofbeing open to show the guides for the stacks of articles to be vendedfrom the machine;

.Fig. 2 is a detail horizontal sectional View taken along line II--II ofFigl 1; and it Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the stackguide mechanism'il1ustratedin Figs. 1

Referring to the accompanying drawing, I have illustrated my improvedvending machine as comprising "a suitable refrigeration cabinet A whichmay be constructed similarly to the construction of well knownmechanical refrigerators and which 30 may include a lower compressorcompartment l 0 and an upper storage compartment 1 I. In the lowercompartment I0 there may be disposed any suitable form of motor drivencompressor or the equivalent for compressing a refrigerating ineg5 diumrwhich expandswithin suitable expansion chambers or cooling coils (notshown) within the storage chamber; 'Any-zsuitable form of coolingmechanism may be employed for refrigerating the storage chamber I I,thepriinary object there- 0 of being to maintain a circulation of coldair within thestorage chamber tomaintain articles, such'as ice creambars and the like, which may be stored therein at a sufiiciently lowtemperature as to preserve the material of the articles and the solidityof their'form. p

The storage chamber has its front wallnormally closed by a hinged door Iwhich maybe locked in closed position by means of any suitable latch l5and may be provided with a lock (not shown) In the forward wall ofthecabinet there is alsoprovided a suitable exit opening I! through whichthe articles purchased are discharged. In the back of'this opening thereis formed an inclined chute l8 which'm'ayreceive articles from 5 any andall of the stacks of articles contained within the storage chamber. Thearticles when released from the stacks slide downwardly and anism bywhich any one of a number of ejector handles 25 may be released topermit suchhan:

dles to be drawn forwardly of the machine to eject a single article froma selected one of the stacks.

, In the form of the invention illustrated herein the storage chamber IIis adapted to contain four stacks of articles to be vended from themachine, the articles being arranged in any desired manner such as instack Bl may be ice cream'blocks all of one flavor while in stacks B2,B3 and B4 may be containedstacks of icecream bars of different flavors,respectively. To permit the person purchasing an article to select whichof the flavors he desires, a separate handle 25 is provided for each oneof the stacks and the coin released mechanism, as illustrated anddescribed in my copending application Serial No. 208,207 (Patent No.2,201,464) of which this application is a division, is adapted torelease all of the handles 25 but upon the drawing forward of anyselected handle the remaining handles are locked against movement,requiring the deposit ofv additional coins to additionally removearticles from stacks not initially selected. Since this mechanismconstitutes no part of the present invention, description andillustration thereof is omitted.

The articles or ice cream blocks in the various wrstacks are held invertical column, one piled upon the other, by means of suitable stackguides which may comprise a frame formed of sheet metal and having theshape illustrated particularly in Figs. 2 and 3 in which the metal is soshaped as to provide two spaced side walls 30 and *3! for each stackspaced apart by a distance just slightly in excess of the length of oneof the bars or other articles to be dispensed from the machine andhaving a lateral width substantially equal to the width of the width ofone of the articles. The rearward ends of the side walls 30 and 3| areturned inwardly as indicated at 32 and 33 to form rear guide flangesengaging the rear edge of the articles and holding them in verticalalignment. The flanges 32 and 33 are -5 stack.

To facilitate the loading of the stacks with new supplies of articles tobe vended, the flanges 34 and 35 are not rigidly secured to the walls 30and 3| but are instead hingedly secured thereto 70 so as to permit theseflanges to be swung forwardly like doors to expose the entire front ofthe guide channel formed by the guides, thus permitting a stack orcolumn containing a plurality of the articles piled one upon the otherto 75 be bodily placed as a unit into the guide channel and then theflanges 34 and 35 associated with that stack or channel may be swung tothe closed position as illustrated in Fig. 3 and held in this closedposition by means of suitable ratching mechanism illustrated herein ascomprising a latch bar 36 pivoted as at 31 upon the flange 35 and havingat its opposite end a hook 38 adapted to engage a headed pin 39 securedupon the flange 34.

To further assist in the ready loading of the articles into the stacks,the forward edges of the side wall guides 38 and 3i are bent outwardlyas indicated at 40 and 4|, respectively, so that the adjacent side wallsof adjacent stacks form apices 42 to which the hinges of the flanges 34and 35 may be secured. Thus the forward edges of the guide side walls 30and 3! are flared outwardly and engage the articles as they areinsertedinto the channel and guide and align them as they are placed in thestack.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that I have provideda stack construction for machines adapted to vend small articles inwhich the time and effort required to load the stacks of articles in thevending machine are materially lessened and yet after the articles arein place within the stack they are prevented from shifting theirvertically aligned relation and are accurately guided downwardly in thestack as the lowermost articles are vended one by one therefrom.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I do not desire to be limited to any of the details ofconstruction shown or described herein, except as defined in theappended claims.

I claim:

1. In a vending machine, a storage chamber,

means for supporting Within thechamber a stack of articles to be vended,including side wall members spaced from each other by a distancesubstantially equal to the length of the articles tobe vend-ed, the rearedges of said side walls being formed with inwardly extending flanges toengage the rear faces of the articles in the stack, front flangesassociated with the front edges of said side walls, and means mountingsaid front flanges for movement between closed positions extendingacross the front edges of articles in the stack and open positionsexposing the full width of the stack for the reception of articlesduring refilling of the stacks.

2. In a vending machine, a storage chamber, means for supporting withinthe chamber a stack of articles to be vended, including side wallmembers spaced from each other by a distance substantially equal to thelength of the articles to be vended, the rear edges of said side wallsbeing formed with inwardly extending flanges to engage the rear faces ofthe articles in the stack, front flanges associated with the front edgesof said side walls, and means hingedly mounting said front flanges formovement between closed positions extending across the front edges ofarticles in the stack and open positions exposing the full width ofthestack for the reception of articles during refilling of the stacks.

3. In a vending machine, a storage chamber, means for supporting withinthe chamber a stack of articles to be vended, including side wallmembers spaced from each other by a distance substantially equal to thelength of the articles to be vended, the rear edges of said side wallsbeing formed with inwardly extending flanges to engage-the rear faces ofthearticles in the stack, front flanges associated with the front edgesof said side Walls, means mounting said front flanges for movementbetween closed positions extending across the front edges of articles inthe stack and open positions exposing the full width of the stack forthe reception of articles during refilling of the stacks, and means forlocking said front flanges in closed position.

4. In a vending machine, a storage chamber, means for supporting withinthe chamber a stack of articles to be vended, including side wallmembers spaced from each other by a distance substantially equal to thelength of the articles to be vended, the rear edges of said side wallsbeing formed with inwardly extending flanges to engage the rear faces ofthe articles in the stack, the forward ends of the side walls being bentoutwardly to form an outwardly flared entrance to said channel, andfront flanges associated with the front edges of said side walls, andmeans mounting said front flanges for movement between closed positionsextending across the front edges of articles in the stack and openpositions exposing the full Width of the stack for the reception ofarticles during refilling of the stacks.

5. In a vending machine, a storage chamber, means for supporting withinthe chamber a plurality of stacks of articles to be vended from themachine, including vertically extending side wall guide members for eachof the stacks, the

side wall guides for each of the stacks being spaced from each other-bya distance substantially equal to the length of an article to be vendedand having a width substantially equal to the width of one of saidarticles, the adjacent side walls of adjacent stacks being spaced fromeach other to provide aircirculation space between the adjacent stacks,the forward edges of the adjacent side walls of adjacent stacks beingbent toward and meeting each other, a pair of front flanges associatedwith each of the adjacent pairs of side walls, and means pivotallymounting each of said flanges upon the meeting edges of saidadjacentwalls for hinged movement independent of the other of saidpairof flanges. l

6. In a vending machine, a storage chamber, means for supporting withinthe chamber a plurality of stacks of articles to be vended from themachine, including vertically extending side wall guide members for eachof the stacks, the

side wall guides for each of the stacks being spaced from each other bya distance substantiallyequal to the length of an article tobe vendedand having a width substantially equal to the width of one of saidarticles, the adjacent side walls of adjacent stacks being spaced fromeach other to provide air circulation space between theadjacent stacks,the forward edges of the adjacent side walls of adjacent stacks beingbent toward and meeting each other, a

pair of front'flanges associated with each of the adjacent pairs of sidewalls, means pivotally mounting each of saidflanges upon the meetingedges of said adjacent walls for hinged move ment independent of theother of said pairs of flanges, and individual locking means for thefront flanges for each of said stacks whereby the flanges of one stackmay be opened while the flanges of the remaining stacks remain closed.

CHARLES F. WOOD.

